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thereadingchallengechallenge · 7 years

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YA Romances featuring Disabled Characters

For the last six months, I’ve been trying to figure out a way to positively react to my dislike of “Everything Everything” by Nicola Yoon (you can read an #ownvoices criticism of the novel here). It is so hard to find decent, accurate and sensitive representations of disability in young adult fiction and when an ableist book becomes popular, it really hurts those of us who are being misrepresented. Disabilities don’t just disappear and people with disabilities aren’t lying or being tricked about their illness.

So to combat the harmful ideas that “Everything Everything” perpetuates, I’ve compiled a list of YA romances that feature disabled and mentally ill characters that represent disability and illness properly. I’m only listing books where there are no magical cures, the disability isn’t erased, and the disabled character doesn’t die at the end.

I have read all of these books, as I only like to recommend books I’ve read myself, and will update this list as I find more books that fit the criteria. If you’re looking for more books about disabled characters in general, I recommend Disability in Kidlit, who are a wonderful resource with hundreds of reviews to steer you towards books with accurate representations of disabilities. You can also follow them on Goodreads.

A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard – A sweet romance about Steffi, a girl with selective mutism, and Rhys, a Deaf boy, who meet when their school throws them together because they both speak sign language. The book is too dependent on lip reading in some places but overall, a charming story about the challenges of communicating.

Under Rose-tainted Skies by Louise Gornall – In this #ownvoices story, Norah, a teenage girl with agoraphobia and issues with self-harm, meets the new boy next door by accident and slowly learns to open up her small world, even just a little bit. Trigger warning for self-harm and anxiety/panic attacks.

A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall – Told from 14 different perspectives – none of them the main characters – this is an adorable story about two college kids oh-so-slowly falling in love. Gabe, the male protagonist, has hearing loss in one ear and a substantial part of his story involves him coming to terms with his disability.

Not If I See You First by Eric Lindstrom – This is the stunning story of Parker Grant, a blind girl, who must figure out how to cope in a world without her father after he dies of a, possibly, accidental drug overdose. The romance is more of a subplot here but it’s still an important aspect of Parker learning to trust the people around her again.

A Tragic Kind of Wonderful by Eric Lindstrom – Bipolar disorder runs in Mel’s family. Her aunt has it, her brother had it, and she has it too. She doesn’t want it to rule her life the way it did for her aunt and her brother but it isn’t easy to control, even with therapy and medication. And meeting David just complicates the issue. But Mel is determined to figure out how to balance her illness with her life. Trigger warning for manic episodes and references to suicide.

Unspeakable by Abbie Rushton – Megan can’t talk after what happened to her best friend, Hana. Her mum and the school are trying their best to help her but she just can’t do it. Luckily, Jasmine talks enough for the both of them and as they get closer, Megan begins to realise she has feelings for her new friend.

A Voice in the Distance by Tabitha Suzuma – Flynn has known Jennah forever and now that she’s finally his girlfriend, he doesn’t want to lose her. But his bipolar disorder is getting in the way of everything – his music, his friendships, and worst of all, his relationship with Jennah. But maybe there’s a way through it, if they can just figure it out. This is a sequel (to A Note of Madness) but you could read it as a standalone. Trigger warnings for manic episodes and a suicide attempt. An #ownvoices book.

Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde – This #ownvoices book features two romances but it makes it onto this list for the romance between Taylor and Jamie. Taylor is on the autism spectrum and has severe social anxiety that greatly impacts her throughout the story both in her relationship with Jamie, and the overarching story of going to a fandom convention. The book is also very body positive, racially diverse and has a wonderful attitude to bisexuality.

Made You Up by Francesca Zappia – Alex has had schizophrenia since she was a little kid. Over time, she’s developed her ways of figuring out what’s real and what’s not. But when a boy she’s sure she hallucinated turns up in her new school, she’s not sure whether to trust her perceptions. The romance here is slow-coming and very much in the background of the story but it’s still lovely and Alex’s schizophrenia is treated with respect throughout the novel.

Last updated 21st July 2017.

It’s so important to read books that represent disabilities sensitively and accurately. When you read a book with a disabled character, please try to think critically about how they are written and how they are treated within the narrative. Just like characters of colour and LGBT+ characters, disabled characters deserve to be treated with respect. They should not be gimmicks. Their identity should not be erased.

If you have any recommendations for YA romances with disabled characters, please shoot them my way, as I would love to read them.

#books #reading #booklr #revive booklr #book recs #trcc original

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thetrashthatsmilesback · 6 years

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Hey 19 and 36 from the ask meme?

19: Pick one thing to your left, what does it mean to you?

A stuffed wiener dog I’ve had since I was two. It used to be one of my comfort items, and when I can’t find it I have been known into very violent panic fueled like, tantrums I guess? I don’t know, I just can’t function if I don’t know where it is. It’s really soft now and I chew on the ears a lot. Its name is Tickles cause two y/o me was v creative lol

36: What would you tell your younger self?

ohhh boy. Oooooh boi is this a big one. First off, mild tangent, why the hell is this just “to the waist” like this is super deep and personal???? idk. anyway, some things I would tell my younger self in no particular order

1) It is not normal to think of death as an escape, actually tell someone about this.

2) the radfems are lying to you, your dysphoria is not internalized sexism and you are not disgusting for it

3) not having a gender preference for crushes is rad and cool and totally fine

4) its not normal for you to genuinely want to run away and have a plan made so that no one would be able to find you, tell an adult, your friend cares but can in no way help you

5) changing yourself because you like someone is dangerous and stupid

6) cis straight white men are not all demons, being not cis/straight doesn’t make you better some how

7) being totally dependent on one person is really not healthy, you may think you love her, but a) you are in eighth grade and b) that kind of dependence is seriously unhealthy and is harming you even more

8) for christ’s sake don’t go as Princess Tiger Lily for halloween! you are white, she comes from a racist book and movie! this is rediculouse why did you think this was a good idea???

9) being unable to talk to people is an actual thing, its called selective mutism, your parents are wrong about it being something you are faking, talk to someone about it

10) wanting to die is not common, get help

11) your special interests are not weird or gross

12) you will never fully stop being emo, this is both a blessing and a curse, also, your eyeliner sucks and buying skinny jeans two sizes two tight isn’t cool, you just screw up your legs

13) ended friendships aren’t your fault, you moved, your friends made no effort to keep in touch, its not your fault

14) don’t make tumblr accounts to impress someone, in six months time you’ll have been made fun of by your idol, be forcibly outed, and will be grounded

15) lying to protect your family is only hurting them worse

16) extremely violent outbursts of anger are not healthy nor normal, tell someone

17) what you are experiencing are intrusive thoughts, they’re common with OCD, tell someone

18) that kid you take all your frustrations out on by screaming at him in french class will soon become one of your best friends, stop being such an ass

19) demand help from your parents, having to go home early every day from panic attacks isn’t normal

20) your anxiety is “cool” or “emo,” its debilitating and awful, its not ““““emo culture”“““ to have to be sent home because you have literally been hyperventilating for an hour, sobbing, shaking, and rocking

21) stop suppressing your stims, you’re neurodivergent, its natural and healthy

22) waves of apathy and numbness are normal, get help

23) waves of crushing paranoia aren’t normal, get help

24) being obsessively controlling/possessive of your friends isn’t healthy and is part of why you end up almost completely friendless - you’re alone and sad but scaring potential friends of your friends away will only hurt you in the end

25) hitting, flinching, and yelling are not normal reactions to touch, tell someone

26) you don’t have to come out right now

28) you have a developmental disorder, you aren’t just weird and isolated for no reason, you literally can not read social cues. Stop isolating yourself, you’re only making it harder on yourself

29) not eating due to stress/anxiety is not healthy, get help

30) you are not an unloveable mess, you have an extremely long road of recovery ahead of you, and years later you will still struggle with all these issues, but you will be better, even if just marginally, and you will learn coping methods. Keep going young one, there’s so much out there to see

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plantanarchy · 7 years

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do you think you could talk a little about being autistic? im wondering if i might be autistic and im still not sure bc i like pass as neurotypical rlly well so far and i thought it would help to hear about actual people's experiences. you don't have to though and im sorry if this is weird!!

This has been in my inbox for a bit, I’m sorry! But yeah, I can talk about it. Keep in mind that everyone’s experience is different and its less of a “spectrum” from mild to severe/low to high functioning and more of a complex where different people have different experiences. A lot of people use functioning labels to dismiss the experience and opinions of “high functioning” folk when it comes to being autistic because tjey “don’t seem autistic” or “aren’t like those other low functioning autistic people”, but really “function” is relative and can even change day to day… on someone’s bad days they could be totally nonverbal rocking back and forth and on good days pass better at neurotypical than I do…

Ok so, I was diagnosed with Aspergers when I was ~10. I was essentially non-verbal in school and other high stress social situations and had been since I was very very young. This was interpreted as “very shy!” despite me having severe difficulty from a young age in saying anything at all to teachers, doctors, church people, even many of my peers, etc and often feeling like i was physically unable to speak but you know… because I spoke at home and with my neighborhood friends, I wasn’t considered non-verbal at all. Or I guess selective mutism is the correct term which is something I definitely still struggle with. Like when I was in middle school, I spent a few years literally being known by my mom’s friends and by some people at school as “Meep” because thata fuckin all I could physically say when somebody tried to talk to me haha

BUT ok that got away from me, point being: i was diagnosed with Aspergers at a young age which is a diagnosis that no longer exists/has been absorbed into the greater Autism diagnosis. Aspergers was separate for a long time because it was basically used to say “these kids are high functioning and different than those low functioning non communicative kids!”. Basically because I had most of the “cool and good” autism traits, my “not as cool and kinda crippling” autism traits and needs got shoved aside and essentially ignored for a long, long time. Which I think happens to a lot of kids! Even to the point of not getting a diagnosis at all or getting a wrong diagnosis and only realizing later in life what may be going on and what was missed.

Whoops before this becomes a bitter tangent, back to my experience of autism I guess. Ok, so on top of still being selectively verbal/mute (some days are worse than others and sometimes it isn’t even directly anxiety related it’s just a mostly mute day), my other symptoms include 1) it’s almost physically painful to make eye contact with anyone 2) formal social situations are beyond me, I never know what is correct or what’s coming next and usually I survive informal social situations by cracking jokes and making weird references to shit or being obnoxious and just accepting the label of “weird ass obnoxious kid but that’s just bre” 3) usually feel like I’m just two steps away from understanding what’s going on in some social situations lol like sometimes i have good intuition, can read people, can guess at what they’re thinking and then something happens that makes me question my entire interpretation of the situation and I realize maybe I wasn’t reading them correctly the whole time!!!! It’s the social equivalent of being the only one to get a wrong answer on a math problem and frantically rechecking your work lol 4) sensory overload yayyyyy when too many things happen at once (which can be like… 2 thing), I zone out and feel like my environment is unreal or blurry (fun and cool dissociation) and I can never predict what will cause that overload or when but also a lot of people have the very dramatic “autistic child screaming from sensory overload” image in their brain and thats not always accurate… my overload results in shut down 5) also along with that, I have sensory issues such as texture, sounds, etc. Certain fabrics as a kid would legit make me cry if I touched them or if my mom made me wear them (WINDBREAKERS ARE SENSORY HELL) and that still happens lol also with stuff like… chewing sounds, shoes that touch my toes in any way, loud music/bass, etc 6) along with that and with sensory overload… stimming. Stimming is basically a self-regulatory response to overwhelming stimuli and plenty of non-autistic people also do similar things when faced with high anxiety situations. Like foot jiggling, pencil tapping, nail biting, pencil chewing, etc it’s basically a soothing compulsion and not always something many autistic people can control without great effort and that control comes at the cost of not regulating anxieties or sensory overload well. I’ve got and always have had a lot of verbal/language stims and am very reptitive in my speech and writing patterns (y'all and lad anyone???) which is kinda self soothing. I have literally always had catchphrases. When im on my own i also do rock baxk and forth and other repititive body motions, also fidgeting with objects, especially cool round objects 7) catalog all the useless info in my brain!!! I can memorize information very well (not numbers though) and when I was a kiddo that got me labelled as #gifted and I was “savant” level in reading and writing but that is less cool and fun to people than beinf a math or science savant or something. 8) anyway related to that, as evidenced by this blog, I get VERY INVESTED in certain topics/ “special interests” to the point that it eclipses all other thoughts in my brain yay!!! Which isn’t a bad thing, I mean it gets me through and also if you have “good” special interests, people think you’re smart and interesting and ask your advice about stuff lol

Symptoms I don’t have that a lot of people think of when they think of an autistic person 1) I am horrendous at math I fuckin hate it numbers are the devil!!!!!! 2) 99% of my humor is sarcasm and I can understand it and figures of speech lol though sometimes i do get it wrong if i can’t read you otherwise 3) I don’t have “zero empathy”, I can feel for the plights of others VERY strongly, and can usually see any (most) POVs if it’s explained to me

There are others probably and there are certainly autistic people who have thise traits and who have different traits than I have. There are LOADS of different ways to be autistic. But also, there’s a lot of overlap between autism and between other things like ADHD, anxiety disorders, etc! So keep that in mind. Some people are strongly anti-selfdiagnosis of autism but knowing how easy it can be for kids who don’t present 100% stereotypically to slip through the cracks, I am all for it. I pass a lot of the time as neurotypical and can do most society things ok, though I have a steep learning curve compared to others… and with passing as neurotypical comes the frequent dismissal of my opinion on autism related topics and the lack of acknowledgement that actually I often DON’T pass as neurotypical and at those times my lack of passing is interpreted as rudeness, deliberate lack of effort on my part, stubbornness, lack of intelligence, lack of professionalism, an assumption that I’m angry with someone or don’t like them, etc etc. It’s an endless, awful cycle!

And I don’t really have too much personal advice for figuring out if you’re autistic or not… I did go through a point in time where despite being diagnosed I strongly denied that I was autistic and kind of had to come back to that as a near adult and realize nope… definitely autistic. And then knowing what to do with that info once youve figured it out is just… I mean there’s not much. There are little to no resources for autistic adults, very few support groups made up of autistic people and led by autistic people, very little resources directed at autistic people themselves in general, usually the focus is on the parents or guardians and talk aboit autistic people as abstract concepts… whoops, can you tell I’m bitter haha gonna end this before I go full “mental health professionals failed me and I’m a mess” etc

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crzcorgi · 7 years

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Little Lost Soul

Negan x Reader

2400 words

Warnings ~ Negan language, bit of angst (reader is selectively mute), no smut in this part

So this is the first part of what might be a new series. I’ve put a bit of myself in the story, mostly just the selective mutism. I would love feedback, positive or otherwise!

Tags are at the bottom. If you don’t want to be tagged, or do want to, just let me know!

Today started out like any other fucking day. Making my rounds around the Sanctuary, never able to trust the fuckheads to make sure everything was running smoothly. Consequently, this was my daily routine before I could truly start my day.

I was heading towards the main front hall when I stopped to glance inside the school/nursery. I don’t usually go this way, it’s Simon’s area, but something fucking drew me.

I stood to the side of the door, not wanting to be seen. Kids of all ages, running around, laughing, playing. Jesus, to fucking be a kid and totally unaware of what’s going on outside these walls. I sighed, and I’m fucking responsible for them all.

Then I saw her. She was sitting at a table near the back, two little ones, a boy and a girl, sitting with her. They were all looking at a book, then making these hand gestures. She had long y/h/c hair, braided, and eyes so big and bright I could see they were y/e/c from where I was.

“Can I help you, Mr. Negan?” I jumped back a bit, startled by the young woman.

“Uh, the girl, over there with 2 kids, what is she teaching them?”

“Oh, yes, they’re all learning sign language.”

I raised my eyebrows. “They’re deaf? All of them?” I couldn’t keep my eyes off of her. Watching the way she was with them, so animated, so happy. But how did she survive being deaf?

“Oh no, y/n isn’t deaf, but she’s mute, and it’s impossibly hard for her to communicate with anyone. She came to me asking if I had any sign language books. I didn’t, but when you all found the library on one the runs, I asked one of your men if they could keep an eye out for one.”

“Mute? Like she can’t talk?” I had heard about mutes before, but just didn’t understand what it entailed.

“Yes, I don’t know anymore than that. She never divulged more about herself. She’s wonderful with the kids, even though this isn’t her job.”

“You mean this isn’t her job? What is she supposed to be doing?” What the fuck was going on? People switching jobs was not something I allowed. Even when said person looked like her.

“Y/N still works her given job at night, I think it’s in the custodial department. She isn’t getting points for this, sir. I’m sorry if I implied that.”

“Oh, okay. That’s fine.” But when the fuck does she sleep and eat?

A tap on my shoulder made me turn quickly.

“Been looking for you, we just got a new bunch in, just a half dozen or so, not sure as Dwight brought them. Meeting?” Simon started looking around. “What are you doing in here? Something up?”

“No, nope, just noticed something someone and came in to ask, Ms. _”

“Mrs. James.”

“Yes, Mrs. James, a few questions. And thank you for answering them.”

“You’re very welcome, Mr. Negan, would you like me to introduce you to Y/N? I will warn you, she’s extremely shy, and not just because of the mutism.”

“No, no, that’s okay. You have a nice day.”

“You too!”

Walking out of the room following Simon, I glanced back over my shoulder to see y/n looking over at me, but quickly looking away when she noticed me looking back.

“I need you to do me a favor after this meeting Simon. I need you to check into a girl who works as a janitor I think, at night. Her name’s y/n.”

“Y/N, I know her.” Fat Joey came up behind us, making me jump again, a fucking sandwich in his hand.

“Jesus fuck, Joseph! For such a large fucker, you walk like a cat.” I rolled my eyes, rubbing my stubble. “So, you know her, how?”

“Well, on the nights you’ve had me patrolling I sometimes run into her. She’s cool, real good listener, doesn’t talk much though.” Joey shrugged, continuing to eat some of the fucking concoction he had.

“Christ, Fat Joey, she’s fucking mute! She doesn’t talk!” I sighed, closing my eyes and dropping Lucille from my shoulder.

He tilted his head at me, confused, but then a look of recognition came over his face. “Oh, OH! So she can’t talk. Well that explains a lot.”

Simon was laughing at this point. I was just done. “Yes, she doesn’t speak. So where do you run into her exactly?” I questioned him.

“Down in the lower basement, she mops the floors in the boiler room and the cells.”

“Jesus! What fuckwad would put a tiny girl who can’t protect herself down there? No.” I was fucking pissed. Yet another job I had to fucking take over.

“I dunno, bossman, she’s taken out a couple of guys that have gotten too handsy with her.”

“Fuck Joseph, she shouldn’t have to do that, you just standing by watching that go the fuck down, huh?!”

“No, no! I mean, it’s what they’ve told me, honest! I wouldn’t let anyone hurt her, she’s nice to me.”

“Negan, meeting?”

I nodded to Simon. “Just keep a fucking eye on her Joseph.”

After the meeting with the new Sanctuary members, I pulled Simon over. “I want you to find out all you can about y/n. And, I want her janitorial services. She’s cleaning my floor now.”

“Including your wives rooms?” Simon looked at me strangely.

“What the fuck did I just say, Simon? Yes, that will include the wives quarters.” I wasn’t sure why, but I was second guessing that.

“Okay, you’re the boss.”

Over the next week, I found that y/n and I seemed to never cross paths, but fucking damn if my room wasn’t cleaner.

I was sitting looking at some maps of a potential new community takeover, I heard a knock at my door.

“Come in.” I figured it was Simon with his afternoon updates.

“Hey boss.” Simon entered, but he wasn’t alone. An older woman came in too. “So, this here is Cynthia, she was in the group with y/n when they arrived.”

I stood, walking over to them both. She suddenly kneeled. “No need to do that here.” I looked at Simon questioningly. “Can you excuse us for a minute?” She stood up nodding her head yes.

We walked out into the hall. “So, you brought her the fuck here because?”

“She knows a lot about y/n. She told me a lot, but I figured it would be easier for it to come directly from the horse’s mouth.”

“Okay, yeah, that will work. Thanks. You don’t need to stay.”

Simon turned to walk away but stopped and turned back. “I gotta ask, why do you want to know about her? I mean you’ve got a fucking smoking hot lot of the best of the apocalyptic pussies. Yet you’re going after a little lost bunny who’s scared of her own shadow. Not exactly your type, boss.”

“You know Simon, it’s not really your fucking business, correct?”

“Yeah, okay. See you round “ This time he kept walking.

Fuck if he wasn’t right, it made no sense whatsoever. But something fucking drew me to her. Maybe it was the fact she was so different from any of my wives. Whatever it was, I just couldn’t control what I was doing.

Walking back into my room, I motioned for the woman to sit down. Grabbing myself a drink, I offered her one also.

“No thank you sir. Simon said you were curious about y/n?”

I sat down across from her. “Yes, it’s not very often that you run into someone who’s fucking mute. Especially in the apocalypse.” I placed my drink down on the table. “So, do you know why she’s mute? Did she come here with family?”

She looked up at me, a bit timid. “She wasn’t always mute, she was fine before ‘the end’” She said, while using those fucking air quotes. “Her sister said she had something very traumatic happen to her, wouldn’t go into details with anyone though, called it 'selective mutism’ I think.”

“Sister? Is she here?” And if she is, why am I not talking to her? Fucking Simon.

“No, she went off with another group not long before we came here. She did it to save y/n. They wanted to take y/n with them, but Lily, that was y/n sister’s name, begged them to take her instead. And they did.” She looked down at her feet, shuffling them.

“Fuck, that’s gotta be hard on her.”

“Yes, sir. Her sister was basically her voice. A bunch of us try to still help when we can, but we all work different jobs, makes it kinda hard. Not that I’m complaining!” She held her hands up.

“That’s fine, I understand. Someone should be with her that can help. Fuckers around here aren’t always so competent.”

“She’s really a wonderful girl, helpful, caring, I don’t think there’s a mean bone in her body. But she’s so sad, and so so scared. All the time. Whatever happened to her, to make her this way, it had to be bad.” She took a tissue out of her pocket, wiping at her nose.

I leaned over to grab my drink. “Thank you for coming here and answering my questions. Is there anything else you could tell me that might help me help her?”

“Not really, well, I don’t mean to bad talk anyone, but…” she seemed hesitant to finish her thought.

“Yes? No one will know that you talked to me. Your fucking safe to say anything.” I needed to know what she wanted to say.

“Well, sir, some of your men like to harass her. A few of us have asked them to stop but they just laugh at us or…or…” she stuttered, hesitating once more. “They’ve threatened us, saying that you’re fine with it.” She looked up at me, her eyes quickly darting back down.

I was fucking livid and couldn’t hold it in. I stood up fast, slamming my drink down, making her jump. “Goddamn fucking fuckers! I most certainly do not condone that kind of fucking behavior!” I started pacing around the room. “I’m not mad at you darling.” I could see her visibly shaking. “Don’t worry, they will not be fucking threatening anyone again.”

I had to ask her what she meant by “harassing her” but I was pretty fucking sure I knew what she meant. And I knew Lucille might be going out tonight. I sat back down, picking my drink up and swallowing the rest. I looked over at her.

“Harassing her, in what fucking way, exactly?”

She sniffed. “You know, calling her all kinds of names, touching her, you know, sexual stuff.” She whispered the last part, but I fucking heard it.

Jesus fucking Christ, I needed to get her somewhere safe. “Okay, sweetheart” I stood up walking over to her, offering my hand. “I’m going to be taking care of this, fucking right away. You will be safe, as will the others.”

She stood, taking my hand, “and y/n?”

“I’ll take care of her. This will stop.”

I walked over to the door just as a knock came. Opening it up, I was surprised to see Fat Joseph. And y/n.

“Uh, sir, it’s time for y/n to clean. Do you want us to come back later, cause we can?”

Y/N, slowly slid behind Joey, her fear evident. I could see her big eyes peeking around.

“No, no, this is perfect. I was just finishing up a talk with a friend of y/n’s.” I stepped aside letting Cynthia out.

“Y/N!” She pulled her into a hug, which y/n seemed to readily accept. “Mr. Negan is going to help you, there’s no need to be scared. Ok?”

She nodded her head, quickly glancing up at me, then looking away just as quickly.

“I’ll see you later, okay y/n?” Cynthia told her as she let go of her, starting down the hallway. She nodded to me, mouthing a silent “thank you.”

I signaled Joseph inside, but doll just stood there, looking downward. “It’s okay sweetheart, I’m not going to hurt you.” I started to place my hand on her shoulder but removed it when she flinched. “Well, don’t mind me, just do your magic doll.”

I sat at my desk, going through papers and listening to Joseph prattle on and on about some inane shit.

“So then, I looked down and I was covered in walker guts, everywhere!” I was about to fucking yell at Joseph for his raucous laughter when I glanced over at doll, she was smiling at him, while dusting the paintings on the wall. How could I deny her happiness. Jesus, fucking pure.

I stood up walking over to where she was standing on a chair to dust a shelf.

“That’s okay, doll, no…” Suddenly, she shifted, I must have startled her and she began to fall backwards. I put my arms out and was able to catch her, causing her to squeak.

“Careful there doll, I know I’m fucking handsome, but no need to throw yourself at me!” My laugh stopped on my lips when I realized she looked fucking scared, tears starting to fall. I had to figure out what to do, and quick.

“Oh, sweetheart, I’m not goin’ hurt you.” I gently placed her down on a sofa, sitting next to her, but not too close. She looked over at me, cries that had turned into tiny hiccups.

“How about I have Joseph here take you for a walk, maybe go get some of that new fruit that was just brought back, sound good?”

She stood up, looking at Joey, trying to communicate with him.

“She hasn’t finished cleaning, I think she’s upset with it.” Joey looked confused.

“Oh fuck, no need to finish darling, you just go with Joe here, he’ll take care of you.” I wanted to touch her, but I knew she would freak. So I just nodded towards her, and patted Joseph instead.

As they headed out the door, y/n turned to face me. And I swear I saw a fucking smile.

Right then and there, I vowed to see more of that.

Part 2

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booksareawayoflife · 7 years

Text

A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard

‘Steffi doesn’t talk.

Rhys can’t hear.

They understand each other perfectly.

Love isn’t always a lightning strike. Sometimes it’s the rumbling roll of thunder...’

Book Review: no spoilers

This is one of my new favourite books. It’s up there with the ACOTAR series for me. It is such a good book, and I was just so surprised at how good it actually was. So this review will be about me gushing about it.

With the blurb, it doesn’t tell you much about Steffi’s situation. You know that Rhys is deaf, but you don’t know if Steffi has never been able to talk, or she just doesn’t by choice. That does add some mystery to it, and it did intrigue me enough to buy it. Nonetheless, I will tell you Steffi’s talking situation to give you an idea about the premise of the story. Steffi suffers from severe anxiety. So much so that when she was a child, she suffered from selective mutism. So she could talk to her family, and her best friend, but she couldn’t talk to anybody else. Fast forward to present day, she barely speaks in school. Only if she has too, and is directly addressed by teachers. Which even then is a struggle to her because of her severe anxiety. So this book you see a lot of character development for Steffi, and see her battle with anxiety. I absolutely loved it. Steffi’s anxiety reminds me so much of mine. There were excerpts from the book which could have been taken directly from my head. I never related to a character as much as I did Steffi.

I liked Rhys a lot (maybe my new favourite name). Yet, I could easily tell that this was a Young Adult book because Rhys didn’t have any vices. He was a perfect example of an ideal book boyfriend. The only emotional baggage there was with Rhys’s character was that he was deaf in a hearing world. I was expecting him to get drunk and take advantage of Steffi (even though I’ve heard nothing but good things about his character, I was expecting him to be a sleaze ball haha), or be a bit of a douche, but he was absolutely perfect. Almost too perfect, but I can overlook that, because being too perfect cannot truly be a problem. I loved the fact that he ended up nicknaming each other Bronze (Steffi) and Gold (Rhys), as a play on their surnames. I also loved the fact that he bought Pop Vinyls for Steffi, because me and my friends do that with each other.

You also had the stereotypical only girl best friend that is in Young Adult books. Her name is Tem. I did like her, but I also did have problems with her. BUT, my problems with her was more because she was doing stupid things, as opposed to her characterisation. I disliked what she did, not her. I liked the fact that Steffi had a best friend, but she is in a different sixth form, because you were able to truly see all sides of Steffi.

I liked the plot of the book. It was a gripping, entertaining, fun read. It is definitely the perfect summer/autumn read. It will make you feel good when you finish it. The plot was slightly unexpected, but nothing dramatic happened enough for me to call it a twist. What I really connected with was Steffi’s anxiety, and how she was dealing with that. Especially because the writing makes it feel as if you’re inside Steffi’s head with her. I really liked Barnard’s writing.

So if you want any books on mental illness, or anxiety it will be a good read for that because it represents anxiety so well, and it is not a situation where her anxiety goes because she is in a relationship. It also is a VERY good book because of it’s representation of deaf people. This book made me want to learn BSL (British Sign Language).

There is sexual content in this book, so I wouldn’t allow younger readers to read it. But I would recommend it to everyone else.

This book was easily a 10/10 or 5/5. I was so hooked on this book. I did not want to stop reading it when I started it. I am so happy that I found, and read this book. I can easily imagine re-reading it over and over again, and buying any special editions of it. I also loved the inside cover, where it had a quick guide to BSL. I loved this book so much. I would recommend it to teenagers and up. It was the perfect book.

Love Lou xx

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